The Witches of Ozymandias
by Paradoxicality
Summary: Stranded on a planet far from home the Doctor and her companions embark on a journey to meet the mythical King Ozymandias. Could it really be possible for wishes to come true?
1. Chapter 1

"So, where we heading, Doc?" Graham asked, watching as the Doctor frenetically moved around the TARDIS console, hitting buttons and pulling levers as if she actually somehow knew what she was doing.

"Jinjur."

"Ginger?"

Ryan furrowed his brows. "As in the spice?"

"Not 'ginger', Jinjur. Or more specifically the city of Chartreuse; 'The City of Wishes'."

"You're gonna have to help me out, Doc, 'cause I'm still just hearing 'ginger'," sighed Graham.

Yaz looked at the Doctor, curious. "Are we talking the metaphorical kind of wishes or the genie kind?"

"Wait, as in the 'rub the lamp and get three wishes' deal? No way!" Ryan enthused.

"Can we all calm down a bit?" protested the Doctor. "I've heard a lot about this city and these supposed 'wishes' and wanted to check it out for myself. More often than not, magical things turn out to have perfectly reasonable scientific explanations. Almost as often as something in science turning out to be magical."

The TARDIS thudded to a halt.

"We're here," the Doctor announced, frowning at a small, flashing red light on the console and flicking it off. "Let's go team."

As Yaz went to open the main doors, the console room lights dimmed and turned red. Everyone stopped and instinctively looked towards the Doctor.

"Ah, nothing to worry about!" she insisted, bouncing back towards the console.

"Doctor, the doors are locked," Yaz said, pulling on the handles.

"Is this something bad?" asked Ryan, looking both scared and excited.

"Oh, no, nothing bad just…maintenance stuff."

The Doctor frantically tapped at the console, looking mildly irritated but trying to retain a calm demeanour.

A robotic female voice suddenly boomed around the room. "Warning! Capsule repairs required."

"Shut up!" the Doctor moaned. "I've told you before, we're fine."

The Doctor hit two large buttons, twisted a lever, and literally bashed her fist against the console, all or some of which caused the lights to dim again and eventually return to normal.

The Doctor exhaled, blowing the hair from her face. "Right then. Let's get a shift on."

"Hang on a second, there," Graham protested as the Doctor tried to march past everyone. "That thing said the TARDIS needs repairs. Is this box about to explode or something?"

"Graham, don't be silly, it hasn't done that in years," said the Doctor, rolling her eyes. "It was just…scaremongering. Like when you get all those emails about your warranty running out."

Everyone was varying levels of placated by this explanation, but allowed the Doctor to move towards the doors.

"Hello there," a bright blue woman said, materialising between the Doctor and the TARDIS doors. Everyone jumped backwards in response.

"Oh no," replied the Doctor under her breath.

"It appears you are piloting a _**TYPE 40 time travel capsule**_ that has not undergone its bi-centennial health check," the blue woman stated in a pleasant if not patronising tone.

"I told you this thing's a death trap!" Graham moaned.

"By our records, you are currently _**1.78 trillion**_ years overdue. Piloting an unchecked time travel capsule may result in the erasure of timelines, or the total destruction of parallel universes. As such, it has been considered illegal under the Gallifreyan Laws of Time, Section Gamma-Alpha-9-A, subsection 8-5-3-∞-2/6."

"Is she serious right now?" balked Ryan.

"As such, your time capsule will now be sequestered, pending the completion of the required checks. Please remain within your vehicle, and cooperate with the releveant authorities upon arrival on Gallifrey. Thank you." The blue woman fizzled back out of existence.

"We're being arrested?" yelled Graham.

"'Gallifrey' as in your home planet? We're going back to your home planet?" Yaz asked, looking strangely excited.

"Nope, not a chance," the Doctor said, raising her sonic screwdriver at the TARDIS doors and zapping them until they flung open. "Everybody out!"

The three others hurried past the Doctor who took one last look at the TARDIS. "Goodbye my love. Come back soon."

The Doctor jumped out of the TARDIS just as the machine began whirring and dematerialising, leaving a dusty cloud in its wake.


	2. Chapter 2

Graham looked around to where they had landed. A lilac sky with orange-tinted clouds hung overhead, and below it a vast desert of white-coloured sand spread out in every direction. Although the landscape initially appeared sparse, there were several cylindrical, metallic pillars dotted around, one of which was a few metres away and was now being examined by the Doctor.

"At least we landed where we were going, eh?" Graham offered, walking across to the Doctor. "Doesn't look like much of a city to me, though."

The Doctor took out her sonic and began buzzing it at the pillar. "Chartreuse is by far the biggest city on all of Jinjur. It spans for thousands of miles in every direction. The actual domestic area is probably a couple of hundred miles that way. Or maybe that way." The Doctor pointed in two completely opposite directions, shrugged, and continued with her sonic-ing.

"So how do we get the TARDIS back?" asked Ryan.

"Were you not listening earlier; we're in 'The City of Wishes'. I bet I can guess what the Doctor's going to wish for," Yaz smiled.

The Doctor sighed. "Maybe. Trouble is, now that the TARDIS is in for repairs, wishing it back might be even more dangerous. Who knows what state it'll be in."

"Well, we can at least try right?" Graham offered. "How do we go about getting one of these wishes anyway?"

"The legends say all you have to do is make it to the palace of King Ozymandias. A person capable of such a feat is deemed worthy of being granted one wish from the King himself, on the proviso that it in no way directly or indirectly causes harm to others. Which is a nice caveat as caveats go."

"Wait, Ozymandias? As in the Pharaoh Ramesses?"

Everyone turned to Ryan as if he'd just spoken fluently in another language.

"What? I listened in class sometimes."

"Supposedly, Ozymandias took a holiday to Earth once. He'd only planned to stay a weekend but ending up leading Egypt for the best part of a century. Everyone's had a holiday like that, though," shrugged the Doctor.

"So which way is the King's palace?" Yaz asked, watching as a small dial rose up on the top of the pillar the Doctor had been scanning.

"Great question! I don't know. But this thing does."

The Doctor gave one last whirr from the sonic screwdriver and several segmented colours appeared underneath the dial, appearing in the order of a rainbow.

"Pathfinders. I love these things. Just pick a destination and a holographic line appears on the ground showing you where you need to go." The Doctor began turning the dial around the colours. "Blue for settlements. Green for the nearest restaurant. And yellow…"

The Doctor pointed the dial at the yellow segment and within seconds a thick, gold line spread out from underneath the team's feet, shooting up over nearby hills and far off into the distance.

"…will take us to the King."

Graham chuckled. "Could do with one of these on Earth. Save me getting lost when they change the bus routes."

"It's called 'Google Maps' old-timer," Ryan sighed.

"What about the button in the middle, Doctor?" Yaz asked, looking at a white button in the centre of the device that had begun pulsating. "It's started flashing which is normally very good or very bad."

"It's just if you want a voice interface to guide you. It's a bit like TomTom. Only you get a hologram of the person too, in case you get lonely. I always thought TomTom should be called 'To-To'. As in, 'Where are you going To-To?'"

"I have KITT from 'Knight Rider' in my old banger," Graham told Yaz.

"Seriously, how old are your references?" balked Ryan.

"Meh, they're always a bit cheesy, aren't they?" the Doctor said, scrunching up her nose. "Having some kind of interface telling you where to go. It'd be…"

The Doctor trailed off, an idea formulating in her head. All of a sudden a huge grin appeared across her face, and she began pointing her sonic at the button.

"What're you doing now?" Graham moaned. "Can't we just go already?"

"I saved his data to my sonic as a backup years ago. I kept meaning to get around to building him a new body, but, you know, things always get in the way."

"Whose data? What is she gabbing about?" Graham asked.

Yaz shrugged. "Not a clue."

The Doctor stopped the sonic and excitedly hit the white button.

Everyone turned around to see what was different, though nothing seemed to have changed.

"Mistress."

A robotic voice floated up from the ground and everyone looked down at what seemed to be a small, metal object shaped like a dog.

"K-9!" the Doctor laughed, attempting to throw her arms around the robot dog, only to phase through him entirely.

"It is important for mistress to remember that I am a holographic interface, and not a physical manifestation of her former companion."

"I've missed your sense of humour," smiled the Doctor.

"You have a robot dog?" Yaz asked.

"Called K-9?" Graham added. "Bit on the nose, ain't it?"

"He's amazing, isn't he?" the Doctor beamed, ignoring the baffled faces of the others.

"I have been programmed to guide you to the Palace of King Ozymandias. Follow me."

K-9 scooted off, his holographic projection having none of the problems traversing the uneven environment that his corporeal self once had.

"We're on a planet following a robot dog that will lead us to some King who grants wishes," balked Graham.

The Doctor grinned and began marching behind K-9. "Brilliant, eh?"


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor had been babbling at K-9 for a considerable amount of time, as if filling in an old friend on all the things they'd missed in the preceding few centuries.

Her companions, meanwhile, had remained slightly back, deciding that one did not come between a woman and her dog. They had crested several sand dunes at this point, waded through a green glowing river that K-9 had insisted wasn't toxic, and were now climbing what quickly turned into a small mountain in spite of having looked mostly flat a few metres away.

"I hope this dog knows where he's going," Graham grumbled, stumbling slightly on a rocky surface. "And I also hope this wish malarkey turns out to be real, otherwise we're all screwed."

"Didn't the Doctor say that whoever made it to Ozymandias's palace would get a wish? Do you think that means we'll each get to make one?" Yaz asked, not wanting to sound as excited as she felt.

"I didn't even think of that!" replied Ryan, not caring how excited he sounded. "Oh man, we could wish for anything!"

"I'm sure there are some constraints…" warned Yaz.

Graham agreed. "There's always something with these things. Bet you anything it'll be a monkey paw type deal; get what you want but at a price."

Ryan rolled his eyes and tried not to look at how far up they now were. "Go on then, you downers – what are you gonna wish for?"

Everyone became silent as they each considered their possibilities.

"I know this is a bit lame," began Yaz, playing with her necklace, "but I think I'd wish for my family to get along better. If that's even possible. I just want a bit of peace without every little thing starting an argument. I guess the Doctor said you can't negatively affect others so…maybe there's a way for me personally to be better around them. Like some super negotiator. I just wish I had the heart to tell them how I really feel. I totally should've taken those advanced mediation classes while I was training," she sighed.

"You had to make it earnest and wholesome, didn't you?" Ryan moaned. "Now my idea for a mansion with an Olympic-sized swimming pool full of money seems superficial."

"Come on, son, I'm sure you can do better than that," insisted Graham. "Something that would actually matter to you."

"I guess…if he could somehow fix my brain and cure my dyspraxia. It might not be that simple, but not having it be a burden anymore would definitely change my life."

Ryan became very solemn and Graham gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

"What about you, then?" Ryan asked. "What's your big wish?"

Graham waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, you get to my age and you have all the things you could ever need. And those you don't have, you got over a long time ago. Na, I think I'm happy right where I am. Don't wanna change things anytime soon."

Yaz couldn't help but notice a tinge of sadness in Graham's tone, but decided to take him at his word rather than press further.

The Doctor and K-9 had reached the summit of the very large hill / very small mountain and stood looking out to the distance. Below them appeared to be farmland, with a large cornfield spreading out for what seemed like miles.

"Isn't it beautiful?" the Doctor smiled.

"Affirmative," K-9 replied, more out of habit than actual visual appreciation.

"Ah, there you are," the Doctor said as the others caught back up. "What have you been chatting about?"

"We were deciding what our wishes might be," Yaz explained. "Assuming Ozymandias grants us one."

"Since you can't risk wishing the TARDIS back, what's yours gonna be then, Doc?" asked Graham.

The Doctor stood silently for a while before quietly exhaling. "I'm going to have to wish us to Gallifrey, I suppose. Sneak in the back and steal the TARDIS. Again. I guess, I'm going to wish to go home."


	4. Chapter 4

The group were walking through the cornfield, huge, great stalks shooting up into the sky, more than twice most of their heights. The leaves were much thicker than those found on Earth, and also happened to be bright blue, but Yaz couldn't help but be taken back to long, summer walks through fields with her family, her sister frequently losing herself in every sense of the word. She instinctively began playing with the necklace around her neck before tucking it into her shirt.

The sky, meanwhile, was starting to turn a dark purple, a large moon with a giant chunk cut out of it now visible in the sky.

"Are we resting anytime soon, Doc?" Graham asked, trying not to sound huffy. "No point us rushing. I'm sure this King's not going anywhere."

"You're probably right. K-9, is there some sort of farmhouse nearby? I can't see over this stuff."

"Affirmative. There is a domicile approximately 983.78m to the north."

The Doctor went to speak.

"The north is where you are looking, mistress," K-9 clarified.

"Perfect. Let's hope farmers are friendly on this planet."

After a little more walking, Graham doing his best not to mention the blister he could feel developing on his foot, the group reached the edge of the cornfield.

Before them was a huge metal structure, painted a dark red in colour, approximately the size of a couple of football stadiums placed back to back.

"I guess they might have a few beds to spare," Ryan gawped.

"Mistress, it would be wise for me to recharge my energy systems while you all rest. I may be retrieved from the Pathfinder devices when you are ready to leave."

The Doctor nodded, watching as K-9's image phased back out of existence as quickly as it had appeared.

The Doctor led everyone to the door on the far left, under the reasoning that it was the friendliest looking of all the doors.

After first knocking and then banging to no answer, the group tentatively peered in to the black expanse behind the unlocked entrance.

What light there was remaining from outside shone through the opening, showing a huge room whose floor was coated in hay, and which housed various pieces of what were presumably farming equipment and vehicles, although the most any came to resembling a tractor was in their sheer size.

"Graham, can you find a light? Yaz and Ryan, take a look around," the Doctor said, immediately pulling her sonic and three torches from her pocket and handing them to her friends.

"Why? This just looks like an equipment shed," Ryan shrugged.

The Doctor wiped her finger across one of the tractor-like vehicles. "Dust," she said, holding her finger up. "In terms of ongoing activity, dust is never a good sign."

"So where do I find a light switch, then?" asked Graham, squinting around the room. "Is there some keypad I need to use, or verbal command I have to say?"

"Probably that big switch on the wall over there," Yaz offered, pointing to an ordinary looking toggle on the wall.

Graham approached the switch and flicked it back and forth a few times. "Power's out."

"Looks like there's a generator by your feet," the Doctor called, her head currently inside a box on the floor. "Good old-fashioned hand cranked one."

Graham looked down at the device dubiously. "Guess I know my place," he sighed.

"Doctor, look at this," Yaz said, picking a piece of paper up from a desk in the corner and handing it to the Doctor.

The Doctor beckoned for Yaz's torch, which she proceeded to place between her teeth for no obvious reason, and began examining the paper.

"Isshano," the Doctor explained.

Yaz and Ryan looked at her, confused.

"Sorry," the Doctor said, removing the torch. "It's a note: _They're coming for me. To take what is mine. I've seen their webs; they will return by nightfall. The King warned me. Or perhaps it was a threat. A wish is only worth so much._ "

The Doctor flipped the note over looking for more but was only met with ink blotches and dirt.

"I told you this wish stuff was baloney," Graham called from the corner, pausing his somewhat lacklustre cranking.

"Do you think someone killed them?" asked Yaz, becoming increasingly concerned. "The note said something was coming to get them."

"Something that makes webs," Ryan added. "I thought we were done with spiders."

The Doctor hopped over to a corner of the room and pointed both torch and sonic at an intricate, spherical structure. It wasn't so much a web as a series of interlocking shapes, weaved together and hanging from the wall. It would be considered beautiful under other circumstances.

"Not good," the Doctor muttered under her breath.

As she said this, the main door burst open and two skittering objects raced into the room and immediately up on to ceiling.

"What was that?" Ryan yelped, swinging his torch around.

"Everyone get down!" the Doctor shouted. "Hide behind something and make yourself small."

Everyone did as they were told, collapsing to the floor and trying to disappear from view. Yaz and Ryan huddled behind a pile of boxes, and Graham did his best to shrink down next to the generator.

"What were those things?" Yaz called.

"Monkey spiders," replied the Doctor.

Graham peered up. "You mean spider monkeys?"

"No. I don't."

There was a screeching and clicking from above, like a bat flapping in the darkness, and without warning something jumped down, landing on Ryan's face.

"Ah! Get it off me!" he yelled.

Yaz immediately went to help, but couldn't stop herself taking in the monkey spider. It was roughly the size of a large cat, with coarse, brown hair that stuck out at ends. It had six arms that seemed to move independently, all of which were flailing wildly at Ryan. Although its simian-looking head was fairly small, its giant yellow teeth still violently gnashed as it screamed directly into Ryan's ear.

"Ryan!" the Doctor called, making to run towards the other two before having her leg yanked back by the other monkey spider.

"Doctor, what do we do?" pleaded Yaz, trying to prise each individual leg off of Ryan's head.

"They…don't like light," the Doctor grunted. "Try your torch."

Yaz looked desperately around for the torch Ryan had dropped and found it up against a box.

"The bulb's smashed," she called back.

The Doctor, whose torch and sonic had skidded off to the side of the room, reached out a desperate hand to grab them. "Whack it, then!"

"The torch?"

"The monkey spider!"

Yaz once again found herself wondering about the flexibility of police training as she began hitting a giant six-legged monkey with a broken torch.

Watching all this with increasing horror, Graham slid back down onto the floor, desperately trying to calm himself and focus.

"Right, looks like it's up to me, then," he muttered to himself. "Would help if I was any good on my own."

"When are you ever on your own, Graham O'Brien?" asked Grace.

"Less and less with you around, that's for sure."

"Are you being sarcastic, you old fool?"

"What, me? Never."

"So how are we getting out of this one?" Grace asked, sounding as excited as she always did when faced with danger.

"Graham!" the Doctor yelled, feeling the monkey spider creep its way up her leg. "Hurry up already!"

"What's that mean?" Graham asked, mostly to himself.

"The Doctor said they hate the light, remember," offered Grace.

Graham frowned before remembering the giant generator he was propped up against.

"Oh, right. What would I do without you?"

"That's something you really need to face," sighed Grace, as Graham began turning the generator, slowly but surely picking up speed.

"I…am…facing…it," Graham insisted, sweat appearing on his forehead.

"By running off into space with an alien?"

"I'm being more adventurous…more brave…isn't that…what you wanted?"

"What's the point if you don't have the courage to go home?"

Graham continued to crank the generator in silence, listening to the yells and protests from the other three, still scrambling on the floor with the monkey spiders.

"It's too quiet…and you're…too noisy."

"I've been called worse," Grace laughed.

"It was always…our home…not mine."

"Well it's nobody's if we're both out here, now is it? All those memories. Lost in time."

"Why…did I marry…someone so fearless?"

Grace chuckled. "C'mon. Our next great adventure; going home. Let's do it together," she said, placing a hand on top of Graham's to turn the crank one last time.

"Anytime, Graham!" Yaz yelled, prying two more limbs from Ryan's face, only for three others to spring back.

"On it!" he shouted, jumping up and slamming the light switch on.

A bright orange glow flooded the room, shining off the farming equipment and illuminating things previously unseen.

Everyone briefly stopped, monkey spiders included. Unfortunately, it wasn't for long; the creatures soon returned to terrorising the Doctor and Ryan.

"It didn't work!" Yaz yelled.

"Just needs a bit more oomph," the Doctor insisted, her fingers finally making contact with her sonic screwdriver, which she promptly pointed at the light on the ceiling.

The orange turned into a bright white, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. The monkey spiders began screeching even more loudly, their bodies swaying in all directions, before they skittered off back out of the door they had entered through.

"Phew!" the Doctor sighed, picking herself up and wiping her leg. "You all alright?"

"I think it poked my eye out," Ryan grumbled, his face now blotchy and slightly scratched.

"You've still got two," assured Yaz. "Nice going, Graham."

Graham shrugged. "I had a little help."


	5. Chapter 5

After exploring more of the building, the group eventually found a room with a series of beds, or at least a series of thin mattresses propped up on pieces of wood. Everyone eventually went to sleep for the night except the Doctor, who as a rule only sleeps when she has to, and so took the duty of periodically sonic-ing lights on and off to prevent the monkey spiders coming back.

The next morning, the team made their way off the farm, the Doctor using a Pathfinder to recall K-9, and journeyed onwards.

"So d'you think those monkey spider things killed whoever owned the farm?" Graham asked, as they trudged through something that looked like snow but was warm to the touch.

"Probably," the Doctor allowed. "But they never act on their own. Monkey spiders are fairly placid up until you give them something to hunt and kill and then they become ruthless predators."

"So something else was controlling them? Ozymandias?" pondered Yaz.

"That note did say he gave a threat," said Ryan.

The Doctor stopped to pull up her socks a little more as they waded through even more of the snow-like substance. "Or maybe just a warning."

The snow eventually gave way to dark green rocks that littered a stone floor. The walking was much easier, but everyone's legs were already tired and sore.

From afar they could see a quarry that dipped down out of view. Although each of them began giving each other sceptical looks, K-9 led them down a winding slope that eventually led to the quarry's base.

He scooted up to a large hole cut into one of the malachite walls and turned to the others.

"You have reached your destination, mistress."

The Doctor, not wanting to outwardly criticise her recently revived friend, peered curiously into the opening in the rock.

"Did I set the wrong destination?"

"Negative. These caves lead directly underneath the Palace of King Ozymandias."

"I was expecting, like, big palace gates or something," Ryan said, slightly unhappily.

"King Ozymandias's palace is surrounded by 564m high fences, each constructed from a highly compressed form of carbon that is both near-indestructible and capable of transmitting a large electric shock to anyone who touches it. King Ozymandias, as a rule, does not like visitors," K-9 explained.

"Good job we're sneaking in to his palace and asking for wishes then, ain't it?" sighed Graham.

"The King respects those who try," K-9 replied.

"Right then, on we go," the Doctor announced.

"I will not be accompanying you further, mistress. My navigation software is not capable of below-ground routing."

"What if we get lost?" asked Yaz.

"My data files indicate that mistress is good in hopeless scenarios 99.67% of the time."

"We don't talk about the other 0.33%," hand-waved the Doctor.

"It's been great having you around again, old friend," she said, kneeling down to K-9's level. "I promise to build you a new shell soon."

"The mistress may have a different body, but she is still incapable of telling mistruths," K-9 stated, before fizzing back out of existence.

The Doctor sighed before standing back up.

"I'll miss that old mutt," Graham said. "He reminded me of the dog I had when I was kid. She talked back a bit less, though."

"Let's go," the Doctor said quietly, and led the team into the darkness of the cave opening.


	6. Chapter 6

The walls of the cave were a slightly luminescent green, providing a helpful guide to what was an otherwise labyrinthine underground network. The paths weaved and wound in all directions, often looping back on themselves, such that several times Ryan was positive they were about to emerge back out to where they started.

The cave eventually opened on to a slightly larger room, but everyone stopped upon noticing that the floor had fallen away in front of them, creating a gap of several metres.

"That looks like a big drop," Yaz said, squinting into the unlit darkness below.

The Doctor looked around and picked up a nearby rock, dropping it into the hole and raising a finger so that everyone remained quiet.

"Six metres. Not that bad. Or at least, not deadly."

"You sure about that?" Graham asked, looking down to where the rock had landed, which was now giving out a gentle green glow around itself, illuminating dozens of furry legs that scampered from the light.

"More monkey spiders?" gasped Ryan. "What are they doing down here?"

"Great question. Also, why aren't they climbing up the walls?" asked the Doctor, no doubt rhetorically. "The walls aren't glowing like they do up here, which would suggest they're made from a different material. A frictionless one, at a guess. Which is good news for us."

"Unless we fall down there," Yaz corrected.

"Right, well, let's not do that then." The Doctor walked over to the side of the room and crouched down. "There's a small ledge sticking out from the wall, here. It looks like we could sidle across to the other side."

Her companions looked both sceptical and scared.

"Look, I'll go first and then I can offer a hand when I'm across."

Without stopping to hear the inevitable protestations, the Doctor eased herself onto the ledge facing the wall, and slowly but confidently sidled all the way to the other side.

"That wasn't too bad!" she shouted back. "I only thought I might die once. Who's next?"

The three looked at each other uncomfortably.

"You alright, son?" Graham asked Ryan. "I know this doesn't look easy for you."

"I'll be fine," Ryan replied unconvincingly.

"Well, how about I do it, and then if you can see how easy it is for an old codger like me, you'll be able to nail it, no worries."

Ryan nodded, and Yaz gently took his hand as Graham mounted the ledge.

"Cor, don't half make you realise how fat you've gotten," Graham sighed, pushing himself up against the wall.

"You can do it, Graham. I'm right here. There's no doubt in my mind that I can single-handedly support a middle-aged man if you slip."

"Real convincing, Doc."

Although he took his time, and risked looking below to the mass of writhing creatures, he too eventually made it across.

"Right…well…yeah," he managed, sitting on the floor next to the Doctor.

"I'll go," Yaz said to Ryan gently. "That way you've got all three of us ready to support you. Plus, you can't just turn around and run."

"You say that."

Yaz gave Ryan's hand one last squeeze before approaching the wall and gradually making her way across.

"Nice one, Yaz," Graham said when she dismounted on the other side. "Come on then, son. No worries, right? You can do this."

"I can do this," Ryan repeated, and approached the ledge. He looked down below him, the blackness somehow physically pulling him down, his head feeling like it might float away from the rest of his body. "Nope, no, actually I definitely can't."

Graham went as close to the edge as he could. "Hey, look, we're all here, right? I know you, Ryan. Better than anyone else here."

"Hey!" Yaz and the Doctor protested in chorus.

"I know that Ryan Sinclair is fearless. He doesn't let anything get in his way. Yeah, maybe his brain's wired differently from the rest of us and his coordination's a bit shot. But that's what makes him so brave. He wouldn't be the Ryan I know without it."

Ryan smiled and looked back at the ledge. "Guess I gotta live up to that now."

Slowly, Ryan placed one foot as securely as he could against the wall. And then, with slightly more confidence, his second.

"That's it!"

"You're doing great!"

"You got this!"

Ryan concentrated on every small movement he made with each of his feet, and found that by focusing on the minutiae, things became increasingly less overwhelming.

It felt like he'd be inching across the wall for hours, and Ryan was sure he must nearly be there, chancing a look to his side.

And then he fell.

His feet slipped away from the wall, his hands desperately trying to grasp onto anything, as the squealing from below became increasingly loud.

But then he wasn't falling. He looked up to see Graham grabbing his hand tightly, the Doctor and Yaz holding on to Graham.

"I've always got you, son," Graham smiled, and with the help of the others, pulled Ryan up to the rocky floor.

Everyone collapsed onto the ground, laughing away the fear.

"We did it!" Yaz smiled.

"Good job team!" beamed the Doctor.

Graham looked over to Ryan "How's that brain of yours now?"

"Total mess. But that's how I like it."


	7. Chapter 7

"I guess those monkey spiders really do belong to Ozymandias," Yaz said, as the team continued onwards in the cave, whose walls were becoming progressively darker as they went deeper.

"I'm still not convinced," shrugged the Doctor.

"Because you believe in him or in his wishes?" Graham asked.

"Either way, he might be our only chance of getting out of here."

The corridors of the cave slowly began to widen, until they expanded entirely out to a huge, open area. The space appeared to be mostly empty, apart from two, large statues at the opposite side of the room.

"This is weird," Ryan said, trying his best to peer into the darkness.

"Seems man-made," the Doctor commented, taking a torch out of her pocket. "An area specifically chiselled out of the cave for-"

The Doctor cut herself off as she reached the other side of the room, her torch scanning the statues in front of her.

"Oh no."

The statues were of two, elderly women sat on thrones. Both were over twice the size of any actual human, their crooked legs alone being the same height as the group. As the Doctor passed her torch across each of their faces, the team took in the sheer unpleasantness of each of the figures; long, wart covered noses, bony chins that protruded down their necks, and eerie sneers that looked as if they were laughing at their presence.

"What are they?" Yaz asked, unable to take her eyes off them.

"Wayward Witches. Which means we need to get out of this place, now!" the Doctor yelled, turning to go, only to be jumped on by a monkey spider.

"Doctor!" the others shouted, as the giant statues somehow seemed to start cackling with manic glee.

Monkey spiders began dropping down from the ceiling and walls in huge numbers, crawling across the floor and amassing on Graham, Yaz and Ryan.

Everyone began desperately trying to fend them off, but were quickly overwhelmed by an endless supply of wriggling legs.

The group found themselves being tossed and turned, but largely unhurt, as their bodies began to be lifted into the air.

Once their job was completed, the monkey spiders crept back into the dark recesses of the area, leaving the Doctor and her companions literally hanging from the ceiling, trapped in four spherical webs. The statues, meanwhile, continued to cackle, their screeching laughs echoing around the space.

"How do we shut those things up?" Graham asked, his body swinging perpendicular to the floor.

"It's how they talk. If the TARDIS was around you'd understand them," explained the Doctor, trying in vain to sonic literally anything.

Yaz, whose two arms were trapped, sticking out from her body, looked at the statues' grotesque faces. "They're alive then? You called them Wayward Witches."

"Distant cousins to the Weeping Angels," the Doctor explained. "Lucky for us, these guys never move; they're stuck where they are no matter what. Unlucky for us they're just as hungry."

"For what?" Ryan asked, his body stuck in the foetal position.

"Weeping Angels feed on time potential. These guys feed on time possibilities."

"You're gonna have to explain a bit, Doc," Graham exhaled.

"A man gets up in the morning. Has some toast, goes to work. Comes home, watches TV, goes to bed. Same job, same house, same toast, day after day. He'd be like a piece of broccoli to these guys; totally bland. But a man who wakes up in the morning, goes to work, quits his job and comes home? Now that's a meal.

"They feed on possibilities. Uncertainties, maybes, perhapses. The sheer quantity of timelines a single person can create when they're faced with an option is exactly what they crave. If you don't know where you'll be this time tomorrow, then you're a veritable meal to them."

"Well we're toast, then," Ryan gulped. "Or, you know, gourmet toast."

"How did they end up down here?" Graham asked.

"They're drawn to areas where timelines split. And what better than a place where people come to make wishes. People brimming with hope for new possibilities and options. Just sit here and let the food be delivered straight to your door."

"And why aren't they chomping on us?" asked Ryan.

"You savour a good meal."

"Right, well, this is all very helpful information, but I'm still not clear on how we're getting out of it," Graham said, wiggling desperately in his confines.

"Oh, that. I'm not so sure about that bit," the Doctor admitted, defeatedly placing her sonic back in her pocket.

Everyone hung somewhat solemnly, swaying gently like decorations on a Christmas tree. Graham watched as one of the bolder monkey spiders clambered up a wall opposite them and clung to the surface at their height, its appendages wiggling as if considering them all. Then, as if from nowhere, it squealed as a ray of light shone on it, collapsing to the floor and landing on its back.

"Here, did you see that? Some kind of light hit that thing."

"Up there." Ryan pointed to very small gap in the wall of the cave that was allowing a tiny glimmer of light through.

"It came from the other direction though," Graham clarified, looking across to the other wall to no avail.

"Hang on…my necklace!" Yaz shifted slightly until her body was positioned parallel to the light ray. It immediately bounced back off her necklace and reflected onto the wall, creating a dancing image that swayed in time with Yaz's body.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor yelled. "Yaz, try and position yourself so that you're facing the light. I can use the sonic to concentrate the light beams in the necklace and reflect them back out, hopefully lighting up the whole room."

Yaz awkwardly moved her body to the best position she could, and the Doctor pointed her sonic at the necklace, but it simply created a mostly dull glow under Yaz's head.

"There's not enough light coming in," the Doctor sighed. "And the surfaces in the necklace aren't mirrored enough."

Yaz looked down at the still shining jewel. "My sister gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago. She said it was proper expensive, but I saw ten like it at the market the next week."

"It looks nice," Ryan offered, since it was the typically the thing people said.

"It doesn't really. But I wear it to remind me of her. She didn't have to get me anything, I wouldn't have cared. I just knew that she hadn't lied out of spite, she'd done it to impress me. She…wanted me to like something she'd done."

"Well, when we get out of this, you can tell her she very nearly helped save us from six-legged alien monkeys, how about that?" Graham smiled.

"Yeah," nodded Yaz.

"My head feels funny," Ryan commented, squinting out of pain. "Is this the Witches?"

"That'll be them," the Doctor groaned, her head pounding too. "Sucking what could-have-been right out of you."

"And what happens when they're done?" asked Yaz.

"No more options; you die."

Graham squirmed. "Thought you might say that."

The Wayward Witches began cackling once again as a strange blue mist drifted away from the group and seemingly up into the statues' noses.

"Here, Doc, if this really is it…" Graham began.

"Don't you dare finish that thought, Graham. I've lived long enough to know that in times like these, there's always hope. A chance of something good coming through at the last second. Because these things might feed on possibility, but the universe is infinitely impossible."

"Affirmative, mistress."

Everyone looked below them in amazement as the hologram of K-9 hovered slightly above the cave floor.

"You clever dog!" the Doctor grinned.

"Laser mode, engaged," K-9 said, as a small gun appeared from his nose, and red beams began shooting out towards the cave wall.

"Wait, your dog has a laser gun?" Ryan balked.

"For defensive purposes, purely," assured the Doctor.

The laser beams began tunnelling in to the wall, dust clouds puffing out from it, until they had soon created a large gap all the way through to the outside. Through which bright rays of sunshine began shining through.

The monkey spiders below immediately began squealing loudly, and the cackling from the Wayward Witches abruptly cut off.

"Now Yaz!" the Doctor shouted, pointing her sonic at the necklace once more. "Let's make a light show."

Yaz angled her body once again, catching the light much more easily this time. The sonic whirred, and light exploded outwards from Yaz's necklace, shining rays around the cave like a small disco ball.

The monkey spiders screeched ever louder, bodies scattering frantically around the area. A mass of them began crawling up the Wayward Witches, clawing at their bony fingers and crooked faces. Chunks of stone fell from the two statues, including one of their noses and several of their fingers, leaving a pile of dust and debris at their feet. When the stampede died down, both Witches looked as if someone had taken a chisel to them, their faces almost entirely wiped of features.

"That is one clever dog," Graham laughed.

"And a priceless necklace," Yaz smiled, watching the lights dance around the room.


	8. Chapter 8

With a very careful aim, K-9 shot holes in each of the webs holding the team, and everyone slowly eased themselves back out and onto the cave floor.

The monkey spiders seemed to have vanished entirely, and the Witches were now silent.

Graham peered suspiciously at the statues. "Are them Witches done now? I don't know how you tell."

"The one good thing about Wayward Witches is that the less body mass they have, the less effective they become, almost instantly. They might be able to nibble on a few more wishes here and there, but once a statue starts eroding it's hard to stop it," the Doctor explained.

"Thanks for coming back, K-9," Yaz said, bending down to him. "You saved our lives."

"Negative, mistress. Without prior knowledge of your neck adornment, I would not have been able to neutralise the threat alone."

"I think you were right, Graham," Yaz said, gently stroking her necklace. "I really should tell my sister how useful this thing is."

"Can we go back a bit, though," Ryan asked. "How does some projection of your dog that you can't touch also have laser weapons?"

"Using the data mistress provided for me, I was able to process the energy used to maintain my holographic image into a heavily refracted image of light based on a photospheric construction, not dissimilar from-"

"Yea, alright, whatever," sighed Ryan.

"This act, however, has depleted my remaining energy reserves, mistress."

The Doctor nodded. "K-9, do you remember my sonic?"

"Of course, mistress. It is a very advanced screwdriver."

"Yeah, and a bit more. But, look, this is where I've kept your data. All those years, you've been right here. In my pocket. By my side. You're always with me."

K-9 paused, remaining quiet for an unusually long time. "Affirmative, mistress."

"I'm glad you know," the Doctor smiled. "See you soon."

K-9 gave one last bow of his head before disappearing once more.

"Doc, look at this," Graham commented, bending down to the rubble underneath the Witches.

One of the statues' feet had been knocked off, and was now lying under a pile of stone. On the base of the foot, however, were two thin circles that seemed to sparkle even though the light in the area was once again dim.

"No way!" the Doctor gushed. "Anti-grav stickers! I always wanted some of these."

Very carefully she peeled them from the sole of the Witch's foot and stuck them to her boots.

"They let you stick to any surface you walk on. The Witches probably wore them so that they didn't accidentally fall over and crush themselves. These are so cool!"

"You did just take something from the bottom of a Witch's foot," Graham reminded her.

"Not just anything; anti-grav, Graham!"


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor led the group out of the Wayward Witches' den and back into the cave tunnels. She seemed unusually jubilant, perhaps because she'd just narrowly escaped death, perhaps because she'd spent time with a long-lost friend, but probably because of the anti-grav stickers.

Yaz noticed that the caves were becoming lighter, and soon they reached a small wooden door, which exited out to what appeared to be a basement area.

"This must be the bottom of Ozymandias's palace," she mused.

"We've actually made it," Ryan said in disbelief.

"Upwards!" the Doctor announced, mounting the stairs at the side of the room.

They entered into a large room that was both beautiful and yet sterile. It was almost entirely white, save for a single, green chandelier hanging from the ceiling, twinkling in the light. There were white tables and chairs and sofas, but everything blended in to each other, which made Ryan feel slightly dizzy.

"Welcome!" boomed a voice.

In front of them, hanging in the air, appeared a large, golden face, rising almost all the way to the ceiling.

"You have reached the Palace of King Ozymandias! My home. Congratulations!"

"We have some bones to pick with you, Ozzy," Graham called back. "Namely those Witches you're keeping downstairs."

"Your journey has no doubt been perilous," Ozymandias continued, unhalted. "But you must take solace in your accomplishments."

"I hope he gets to the wish part soon," Ryan mumbled.

"Few rarely have the heart, bravery or intelligence to make it this far."

"Wait," Yaz said, squinting at Ozymandias's face. She walked up to his image and tugged on the white sheet that was much more obvious now that she was this close.

"He's a projection," she said, pulling back the curtain entirely to reveal a small device propped up on a table, flickering light outwards.

"Well, yeah, you didn't think he was real, did you?" the Doctor said.

"No. Course not," Ryan replied a little too quickly.

"You may have come here with hope in your heart. A wish held dear that only I may grant."

"So it's over then," Graham sighed. "No wishes and no evil guy to take down."

"The thing is, I don't actually think he was ever evil," the Doctor shrugged. "If I had to guess, the Witches had nothing to do with him. They probably moved in when this whole myth started and people began streaming through with all those possibilities. Whoever owned that farm made it back before the Witches eventually claimed what was theirs."

"I, King Ozymandias XVII, ruler and protector of the city of Chartreuse, cannot grant you your wish."

"See," Graham said.

"Your wish may have been grand. It may have been the most personal thing imaginable. But whatever the case, it gave you hope. Hope that in some way, your life may change for the better.

"But know this; one wish could never solve life's problems. We may think that one alteration will improve life entirely. When has that ever been the case?"

The Doctor closed her eyes in thought.

"I am but an old man now. When you hear this, I will have left Jinjur for the planet Baum, where I may live out my final days in peace. I leave this myth as my legacy, such that I may inspire hope even after I have left."

"And a fat load of disappointment," Graham moaned.

"You, and you alone may have the largest effect on your own lives. If there is something you want, work for it. If there is something wrong, fix it. If you have people around you, love them. Don't simply wish for a better life; make one."

The projector turned itself off with a click and the four stood around in silence.

"I guess his heart was in the right place," Yaz allowed.

"Where does that leave us, though?" Ryan asked. "We're still stranded here."

"Not necessarily," the Doctor said, jumping to action. "The atmosphere of Jinjur is extremely dangerous, so much so conventional space travel using rockets and ships is lethal. Which means Ozymandias would have needed an alternative way out of here. Which means…"

The Doctor scanned around the room before excitedly running towards a large circular plate on the floor in the corner.

"Teleporter. Short range, local planets only. But with a bit of rejigging we could go a little bit further."

Without comment the Doctor began walking up the side of the wall until she reached the ceiling, knocked several times on what was now the floor to her, and opened a hatch near the top of the room.

"I told you anti-grav was cool!" she shouted down, as everyone else gawped at her perpendicular body.

She began pulling a mess of wires from the hatch, breaking some and using the sonic screwdriver on others, until the teleport pad on the floor below began glowing a bright red.

"Perfect!" she grinned, walking back down the wall. "Everyone, step on. We're getting out of here."

Ryan, Yaz and Graham approached the red pad and huddled on top of it, allowing space for the Doctor to squeeze in next to them.

"We're finally going to Gallifrey, then?" Yaz asked.

The Doctor looked down at her feet, the red of the teleport pad and the sparking anti-grav stickers shining together on her boots. "We're going home. There's no place like it."


	10. Chapter 10

Yaz picked herself up from a cold metal floor and tried to take in her surroundings. Her shoulder hurt, as if she'd slammed into a wall, and everything was the slightest bit blurry.

"Doctor? Ryan? Graham?" she called.

"We're here," Graham groaned, picking himself up. "Teleport travel is hardly first-class, is it?"

"Yeah, sorry, about that," the Doctor said, standing over them. "I always say you should never mess with teleports, but desperate times and all."

"Where are we?" Ryan asked, uneasily standing up.

"Home," the Doctor replied, flicking on the console lights and illuminating the TARDIS.

Yaz smiled, taking in the console room. "I guess you really did get your wish in the end."

"So you got it back, then? All repaired, I hope," Graham asked.

"Good as new. Complete with a new, billion-year warranty. Which I also stole, I guess."

"Didn't feel like sticking around?" asked Ryan, noticing that they were in flight.

The Doctor flicked a few switches on the console. "So," she said, as if she hadn't heard Ryan. "Where to next?"

"Well, actually, Doc, I was hoping to head back to Sheffield for a bit. You know, sort a few things out back home," Graham said.

"Yeah, I feel like seeing my folks," Yaz added. "Properly talking to them. Making them feel loved."

"And I've been putting off practicing on my bike. If you've got the time," Ryan said to Graham.

"Always, son."

"Well then. Sheffield it is," the Doctor said, punching coordinates into the console.

"What about you, Doc, got any plans?"

"You know what? I think I might just take the time to appreciate being home."


End file.
